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*

Thud.

When the door opened, a park built on the rooftop of the department store appeared.

Most people were shopping on the lower floors, so only a few were strolling around.

Blanshe guided me to a secluded corner.

Then, Blanshe, who had been silent until now, spoke.

“You seem to have grown much weaker in the time I haven’t seen you, Tristan. I can’t believe you’re wandering around without a single bodyguard.”

“……”

“Or did you not expect me to come looking for you like this?”

Blanshe pulled her hand out of my coat.

Then, the true nature of the blade in her hand was revealed.

“Look at this. This is what you and the Ruelberta Family have made of me.”

It was the hand of a beast.

Her hand had turned into a furry, beastly claw.

And at the tips of those claws, sharp nails gleamed dangerously.

“I can never… forgive you and your family for making me like this.”

As if responding to Blanshe’s wrath, her claws grew longer.

Those claws were unmistakably aimed at me.

I sighed inwardly.

Honestly, I still don’t have the confidence to defeat her.

After all, she was the true monster created by the Ruelberta Family in the past.

To borrow the words of Tristan’s father, William, Blanshe was the only ‘successful creation.’

If the Annihilation Maids were the shields protecting the family, Blanshe was the sword that assassinated those who stood in the family’s way.

She was a weapon created solely for killing.

In the past, Blanshe meticulously eliminated those who posed a threat to the Ruelberta Family under William’s orders.

She was the Ruelberta’s loyal dog.

To her, orders were absolute.

She had never once spared an enemy.

By the time Tristan succeeded as the head of the family, Blanshe had already become infamous as a murderer.

She had killed too many people.

The Empire had issued a warrant for her arrest.

And as the Ruelberta Family began to be suspected as her backers, the family’s standing grew increasingly precarious.

Eventually, Tristan decided to cut ties.

The decision didn’t take long.

By then, there were hardly any forces left that could threaten the Ruelberta Family.

Her usefulness had already run out.

In the end, Blanshe was eliminated by Tristan’s hand.

But, of course, according to the original story, she survived.

“This is where it happened. Where the bullet you fired pierced through.”

Blanshe pulled down her clothes to reveal her shoulder.

Skin as white as snow.

A faint scar remained there.

“But I’m still alive.”

She was my burden.

On the rooftop of the department store, Blanshe shouted as if venting her anger.

“I’ve been waiting all this time to take revenge on you. All this time!”

“…I know.”

“If you had been engaged to Lady Bella, you might have lived.”

“…She would have been your benefactor.”

“That’s right. I couldn’t turn my benefactor into a widow. But if it weren’t for that, I would have torn you to pieces!”

Blanshe spoke with a voice full of anger.

“But I didn’t expect you to break off the engagement yourself. Now, I can kill you without any regrets! No, now I’ll kill you for the sake of the young lady. Tristan…!”

Her claws wrapped around my neck.

I could feel the cold sensation against my throat.

Yet, my ‘pride’ didn’t waver even in the face of death.

I held my head high and looked at her.

Blanshe’s grip tightened.

“If you have anything to say, say it now, Tristan.”

“I won’t.”

“Huh?”

“It’s all true.”

At my words, Blanshe’s face twisted.

“Are you admitting it? What you did to me?”

“Yes. I admit it all. I have no intention of denying what I and my family have done. It’s all true, and your hatred and desire to kill me are justified.”

I continued slowly.

“I don’t seek your forgiveness. That would be the ugliest thing of all. But if you’re going to kill me, I will resist.”

“You’re going to resist me?”

“Yes.”

At my words, Blanshe sneered.

“Ha… You, who can’t even use magic due to the family’s curse, are going to resist me, a former assassin?”

“Yes. Your sins are my sins. Those who rise by the sword, fall by the sword. I always knew your blade would one day turn on me.”

“……”

Blanshe’s grip loosened slightly.

At the same time, she opened her mouth.

“…Then, there’s something I want to ask you.”

I looked at her.

Behind her, the sun was slowly setting.

“Back then, why did you aim for my shoulder instead of my head?”

I noticed her pupils trembling.

“Was it cheap pity? Or just a mistake?”

“……”

“You knew how to kill me ‘definitively.’ Yet, you didn’t. Why?”

I could infer the faint hope in her eyes.

No, I could understand a bit more through her words.

The character of Tristan.

If it were the old me, back when I only knew Tristan from the original story, I wouldn’t have known.

I wouldn’t have tried to understand.

That he had a human side.

That there were stories even I, a lore enthusiast, didn’t know.

‘He wasn’t a villain from the start.’

The glimpse of Tristan’s past I saw in the Trial World.

There, I understood his anger.

I understood his despair.

[Conditions have been met.]

[Tristan’s locked memories are flowing in!]

I opened my mouth.

Becoming the young Tristan who had just ascended to the position of family head.

“…I wanted you to live.”

“Huh…?”

“The Ruelberta Family is a sinful one. I didn’t want you to bear the sins of our family.”

Tristan decided to eliminate Blanshe himself.

The loyal dog who had only followed orders.

At least for the last time, he wanted to send her off with his own hands… That’s what he thought.

Even if it was a selfish choice.

At the time, it was the best option.

“Thank you.”

The words Tristan couldn’t say back then flowed from my mouth.

“For staying alive.”

Blanshe was silent.

She just stared at me.

But in her eyes, a directionless anger trembled.

“…That young girl died by your hand that day. No, in your words, she was just a tool.”

Her gaze was cold.

“And now… Do you think I’ll forgive you just because you say that now…?”

I recited the words William had said at the end of the Trial.

“You don’t have to forgive me.”

“…I understand. I don’t need you to tell me. I will never forgive you….”

I sensed something strange.

At some point, the temperature around us had clearly dropped.

A thick mist began to flow.

As if I had been abandoned in the midst of a bitter cold.

Blanshe’s body began to change.

She was becoming something monstrous.

Evidence of her transformation manifested all over her body.

Before I knew it, a beast with ears and a tail stood before me.

The noble blue tiger, also known as the Frost Beast.

The ferocious creature bared its fangs at me.

“Don’t expect any mercy from me….”

A harsher chill swept over me.

As if the weather itself bore malice toward me.

I pulled out a revolver from my coat.

William’s gun, the one Tristan had first used to kill his own kin.

This, too, was part of his burden.

I aimed the gun at her.

Frost formed on the barrel.

Yet, Blanshe showed no fear.

“Are you going to shoot me again? This time, don’t miss. Or it’ll be you who dies, Tristan.”

A chill so cold it felt like my breath would freeze.

Her words were no bluff.

But my ‘pride’ remained calm even in that situation.

“…Come at me, kitty.”

 

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